Faculty & Staff Newsletter

Lisa Castellino

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

As Assistant Provost for Institutional Research and Assessment, Lisa Castellino is the keeper of all official past, current and projected data reports and statistics related to UNCW. For questions such as "How many students have graduated from UNCW in the last two years? and "How do those numbers compare to the two years before that?," she is the go-to person.

People often joke that Castellino "has their number," but her job is more than counting numbers. "It's context both about the numbers and the definitions surrounding how to report. It's understanding their context and how far you can make interpretations."

For example, she says, "There are a myriad of factors that play into predicting student retention. Many think the SAT is the sole predictor, but it isn't."

A true statistician, Castellino "questions every data point I see for its context, how it was calculated and more importantly, who is funding the research. One can never overanalyze but one certainly can make the mistake of taking data at face value without understanding how it was calculated and what assumptions were used, or were not used."

So how does she keep track of all facts and figures related to UNCW? "Data starts in Banner and goes through a blender of definitions and formatting to become analytics," she explains. "I enjoy graphically representing data as much as analyzing it. There is a true art to manipulating data into a picture that in one broad view tells the tale."

A Seahawk since 2004, she holds a BS from Marywood College, an MS from Shippensburg University and a Ph.D. in administration and leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.